GDC Canada: Eidos Montreal Talks Thief 4
Could the stealth franchise see its next sequel on a next-gen console?
May 12, 2009 - In February 2007 an ailing Eidos announced that it would embark on a three-year plan to found a Montreal studio that would house three brand-new development teams. The fledgling office would be tasked with creating new AAA titles that would help lead the company back into its rightful place as one of the world's premier videogame developers.
It's no easy task, but it's one that the new studio's General Manager, Stephane D'Astous, seems up to. We sat down with the energetic D'Astous at the inaugural Game Developers Conference: Canada in Vancouver this week to talk about Eidos' ambitious plan as it relates to the global company's newest big game announcement: Thief 4.
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For weeks, Internet rumors had been chattering that Eidos Montreal was working on the fourth installment in the popular stealth franchise, and the company confirmed the Thief 4 rumors on Monday. But beyond the announcement, Eidos remained fairly silent on just what it had in store for Thief 4. And while the company is still refusing to cough up details this early (the title just passed the proof-of-concept phase three weeks ago), D'Astous did talk with IGN about the team's general approach for the game and its overall philosophy as a studio.
The Thief franchise got its start on the PC and saw most of its success there, although the third Thief title also ended up on the original Xbox. And while it seems likely that a PC version of Thief 4 is in the works, the fledgling title's console future is a bit hazier.
"As for platforms and consoles, things are moving so fast. There's some contradictory noise on when there's going to be the next generation, so we're going to be prudent on that one," said D'Astous. "So we're going to wait a couple of months to announce more about that. It's going to be cutting edge technology, that's for sure. It would be imprudent for us to say which console because, first of all, we don't know exactly the window of release and we don't know the first-party strategy.
Does that mean Microsoft, Nintendo or Sony is planning to introduce a new console sooner rather than later? D'Astous wouldn't say anything further on the topic. But he did confirm that neither Thief 4 nor Deus Ex 3 would be on display at this year's E3 convention in Los Angeles. That leaves plenty of time for Eidos Montreal to get an earful from fans.
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With Thief 4, there's a firm focus on the fanbase. After Monday's announcement, the studio threw up an official message board that quickly became peppered with comments and questions from fans of the franchise. Would Garrett return as the main character? Would voice actor Stephen Russell reprise his role? How would stealth be handled? Would it be open-world?
We asked D'Astous all of the above questions and were politely refused answers, although he did assure us that the game would stay true to its stealth roots, even while attempting to broaden the series' horizons.
"It's safe to say that there's an association of stealth games being boring and slow-paced. And we're fully aware of that. I think we'll try to repeat what the first game did, which is to really break ground on the traditional way of playing. And I think if we want to do a fully stealth game, it's going to be, I hope, very innovative and bring a lot of new things to the table," D'Astous said.
To do that, Eidos has established a top-notch team of developers in Montreal, many of whom left high-paying jobs at competing studios to work on Thief 4 and Deus Ex 3. Most of the team members have serious development pedigrees and solid experience shipping AAA titles. Before settling on Montreal, the company looked at both Vancouver and Austin, Texas, site of the now-shuttered Ion Storm (which created the original Deus Ex) as a base for the new studio. But, D'Astous said, the talent pool in Montreal sealed the deal.
And soon Eidos will be siphoning yet more top-tier talent away from studios like Ubisoft and EA in Montreal when it begins ramping up development on a third unannounced game next year. D'Astous wouldn't say what the studio's next big project is, but we know it will be a major or possibly new IP. Eidos killed 15 pending game projects when it reorganized around the new Montreal office last year, so expect all the studio's upcoming bets to be big ones.
For Eidos, that seems to mean hardcore-focused games that also draw in more mainstream gamers, ones who may not have played games like Thief previously but are curious and willing to try a new series.
"We want to bring something new to the table, because these games sold respectably [in the past], but we want to bring it to another level. We want to have a larger audience without diluting the content," said D'Astous. "That is the real challenge, to bring it to a larger audience but without making it too easy or too thin on content. We're going to bring certainly a lot of innovation to both [Thief 4 and Deus Ex 3]."
Exactly what that means is open to interpretation at this stage, although D'Astous hinted that story, choice and RPG elements will play a large role in Thief 4, rather than the instant gratification that comes with twitch combat.
"I think shooters are fine – it's an adrenaline rush. But I think the RPGs in recent years are really gaining a lot of momentum," said D'Astous. "People want to have a richer experience. They want to have choices in their gameplay and I think games are getting more and more sophisticated with storytelling, and I think we can certainly do something with that with Thief."
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